Friday, September 13, 2013

MLB Game Picks - Friday: September 13, 2013

Why yes, it is Friday the 13th. That means the picks will have good luck today, right? The 12th was not too bad. Seven out of eleven was not as blah or bad as the previous days. I did not expect the Yankees to win a game that Phil Hughes started. The beleaguered pitcher was yanked after pitching just 50 pitches (and he pitched well). David Robertson tried to give the game back and was so bad that when the Yankees went ahead in the ninth to win the game, the win was given to Mariano Rivera instead of Robertson. Weird.

I did not expect the Cardinals to lose to the Brewers either. But then again, it should not be surprising because Tyler Thornburg is impressive as he starts his big league career. The Cardinals and Pirates are now tied atop the NL Central with 16 games to go.

The other two games that I blew were the Braves game that they won behind Freddy Garcia. That was a surprise. And I did not expect the Rays to win against Boston.

We are back to a full schedule of games today. There is a lot of rain on the East Coast, so we'll see how that goes. The Friday picks:

The Indians over the White Sox: They are playing this game in the afternoon, which is kind of weird. But the Indians should win it fairly easily. Hector Santiago is Mr. No-decision and the bullpen will lose it. Danny Salazar should have no problems. The White Sox made three more errors yesterday. Amazing.

The Pirates over the Cubs: Charlie Morton was bombed in his last outing, but he should rebound to beat the Cubs. The Cubs start Jake Arrieta, who just cannot seem to put it together in the big leagues.

The Nationals over the Phillies: The only big question here is whether the Nats will score some runs to support Stephen Strasburg. You know the pitcher will pitch well. Kyle Kendrick will try to keep the game tight.

The Blue Jays over the Orioles: The Orioles are really tumbling and it will not help to put Jason Hammel out there on the mound. Todd Redmond has won both of his last starts. He has not been going deep into games, but the bullpen has held them. That will have to happen again today.

The Tigers over the Royals: The Tigers have not been faring well and Justin Verlander is no longer a lock to win. But I do not like Bruce Chen on the road and thus give the not to Verlander and the Tigers at home.

The Mets over the Marlins: Brad Hand has lost nine of his ten big league decisions. He has pitched five scoreless innings in relief so far this season. But that is a far cry from a start. Jonathon Niese has had a good second half and I like him in this one.

The Yankees over the Red Sox: This is the Yankees' best chance to win a game in this series at Fenway. They always seem to get to John Lackey after a while and Hiroki Kuroda and his split-fingered pitches can keep the Red Sox at bay. The Yankees' bullpen is not doing well, so if it's close late, this pick can blow up.

The Braves over the Padres: The Braves are giving David Hale, a 2009 third round draft pick out of Princeton, his Major League debut. I am not impressed with his minor league numbers. But my theory here is that the game will be high scoring as the Braves get to Ian Kennedy and the bullpen wins it late.

The Athletics over the Rangers: How upsetting for Rangers' fans to see how futile they have been lately. Dan Straily has not been lights out against the Rangers (or anyone else), but he does keep the A's in the game most of the time and actually pitches better in Arlington than at the Coliseum. Derek Holland has not shown me much.

The Angels over the Astros: Remember earlier in the season when the Astros were beating the Angels often? The Angels are better now. Not much, but better. One reason is that Jason Vargas has been pitching well. Dallas Keuchel just sort of exists for me.

The Reds over the Brewers: The Reds are still hoping for a shot at the division and they are still within hailing distance. Mat Latos has had a great year. Kyle Lohse is the only wildcard to this pick. He can pitch well in Milwaukee.

The Cardinals over the Mariners: The Cards might have a tough time with Hisashi Iwakuma. They do not hit lefties well and this is a good one. But Adam Wainwright is on the mound and the Mariners have little on offense. The Cards win late.

The Diamondbacks over the Rockies: Tyler Chatwood has had a good season and did not show any ill effects from his hand injury suffered against the Reds the last time he pitched. But I like the D-backs here at home and for Brandon McCarthy to build on his last good start.

The Dodgers over the Giants: This is a good one. Clayton Kershaw at home against Madison Bumgarner. That is a lot of pitching talent all at the same time. This game could go either way.

And the Game of the Day:

The Rays over the Twins: This is the Rays' chance to undo a lot of their past damage the last couple of weeks. They should beat the Twins just about every time. Chris Archer should get the win and Kevin Correia should not provide much of an obstacle.

About Me

William Tasker is a writer, editor and photographer in Stuart, Florida. His photography specialty is nature in its most pure and natural state. His photography is available as prints and many items and home decor and office decor.
Tasker also writes for a New York Yankees blog and needs to get back to his own generalist baseball blog he has neglected for the past several years.

Followers

Privacy Policy

The Flagrant Fan (Glimmer Tree, LLC) knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we take your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy covers The Flagrant Fan's treatment of personal information that The Flagrant Fan gathers when you are on the The Flagrant Fan website and when you use The Flagrant Fan services. This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that The Flagrant Fan does not own or control, or to individuals that The Flagrant Fan does not employ or manage.

Information Collected by The Flagrant Fan: We only collect personal information that is relevant to the purpose of our website. This information allows us to provide you with a customized and efficient experience. We do not process this information in a way that is incompatible with this objective. We collect the following types of information from our The
Flagrant Fan users: 1. Information You Provide to Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or provide to us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features. 2. automatic Information: o We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. The Flagrant Fan and its authorized agents automatically receive and record
certain "traffic data" on their server logs from your browser including your IP address, The Flagrant Fan cookie information, and the page you requested. The Flagrant Fan uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyze trends and administer the website. o The Flagrant Fan may collect and, on any page, display the total counts that page has been viewed. o Many companies offer programs that help you to visit websites anonymously. While The Flagrant Fan will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these programs are available. E-mail Communications The Flagrant Fan is very concerned about your privacy and we will never provide your email address to a third party without your explicit permission, as detailed in
the "Sharing Your Information" section below. The Flagrant Fan may send out e-mails with The Flagrant Fan-related news, products, offers, surveys or promotions. CookiesCookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our website are visited and by how many people. The Flagrant Fan cookies do not collect personal information, and we do not combine information collected through cookies with other personal information to tell us who you are or what your screen name or e-mail address is. The "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because cookies allow you to use some of The Flagrant Fan's coolest features. The Flagrant Fan's advertising partners may place a cookie on your browser that makes it possible to collect anonymous non-personally identifiable information that ad delivery systems use to present more relevant ads. If you would prefer to opt-out of this standard practice, please visit our advertising partner Platform-A's privacy policy and opt-out page. Sharing Your Information Rest assured that we neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below. The Flagrant Fan Personnel: The Flagrant Fan personnel and authorized consultants and/or contractors may have access to user information if necessary in the normal
course of The Flagrant Fan business. Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if The Flagrant Fan, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user
information would be one of the assets that is transferred. Protection of The Flagrant Fan and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of The Flagrant Fan, our employees, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and
credit risk reduction. Syndication: The Flagrant Fan allows for the RSS syndication of all of its public content within the The
Flagrant Fan website. With Your Consent: Except as noted above, we will contact you when your personal information is shared with third parties or used for a purpose incompatible
with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, and you will be able to opt out to prevent the sharing of this information. Children Under 18 Years of Age You must be 13 years and older to register to use the The Flagrant Fan website. As a result, The Flagrant Fan does not specifically collect information about children. If we learn that The Flagrant Fan has collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. We recommend that minors between the ages of 13 and 18
ask and receive their parents' permission before using The Flagrant Fan or sending information about themselves or anyone else over the Internet. Changes to this Privacy Policy The Flagrant Fan may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, at its sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the The
Flagrant Fan website so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed. Conditions of Use If you decide to visit The Flagrant Fan website, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of California state law. Effective Date of this Privacy Policy This Privacy Policy is effective as of October 21, 2010 and last updated October 21, 2010.